A So So Ramen Date
by parodized
Summary: When Naruto asks Hinata out for ramen again, he made it a point to not let Neji see him. Or else.  Sequel to 'A Not so Ramen Date'


**Before reading this, I recommend reading 'A Not so Ramen Date' first.**

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**A So So Ramen Date**

When the news about Hinata's unladylike manners at Ichiraku's regarding Naruto's invitation finally made its way to the ears of Hyuuga Neji, the prodigy wasted no time hunting down the soul of the jinchuuriki.

He callously passed through the streets of Konoha leaving a path of ice in everywhere he stepped on that he failed to notice the pair of blue eyes watching him at the rooftop of a civilian's house. Naruto rested his back against the chimney and took a deep breath.

"I'm starting to doubt if I really am a ninja" He muttered. Naruto has never shown fear to any shinobi for as long as he can remember, be it Pain or Madara or Sasuke –with the exception of Sakura and Tsunade. But for the first time in history, someone managed to make the blonde's body tremble in fear. Just because of a simple ramen.

'_When I live, I swear I will have trauma eating at Ichiraku's again' _Naruto closed his eyes and tried to track Neji's chakra. '_Hmm, where are you'_ he mused.

"Shit!" he cursed. Neji found him the Hyuuga's chakra is closing in on him fast. Naruto looked around the village and there he saw him, glaring at him withhis Byakugan activated. A bead of sweat ran down Naruto's face.

"Oi Ne-Neji! H-how's it d-down there?" Naruto greeted him, his lips quivering. The blonde gulped and laughed nervously. "I heard that you were looking for me."

Neji glared at him with killer eyes. Naruto made a mental list of his will, _'M-my scrolls … Kakashi-sensei, Ju-ju-jutsus … Ko-konohamaru … Ra-ramen … Tsu-tsunade baaa. ….' _He ran for his life. A second too late and he might have been blown to Suna now, he landed head first on the ground and dashed towards the forest, ignoring the pain throbbing on his head leaving a Kage bunshin in the process to stall Neji even just for a few seconds. Neji let out a silent 'tch' as he sliced through the clone.

"Oi, Neji!" Someone called behind him. He turned around to see a very furious Tenten at her doorstep, her head filled with rubble.

"What the hell made you throw an explosive kunai at MY house?" she hollered, making the civilians retreat to a safer place. Neji looked up at the house, it was Tenten's indeed. Tenten brushed off the rubble left on her head and threw the leftover kunai at him.

"You will fix this, right now" Neji felt the murderous aura of his teammate even at a fifteen meter distance. She's pissed off to her core. Neji sighed and went to Tenten's house, but before the brunette managed to get a hold of his collar and drag him to her house to fix her room, Neji made a shadow clone to keep an eye on Naruto.

"Let it slide, Neji!" Tenten grabbed his collar for the second time and flung him with all her strength to the roof. "Now fix that!" She ordered from downstairs.

"Hai, hai" Neji sighed, rubbing his aching nape due to the Tenten's manhandling. "That blonde's going to get it someday" he said, glaring at the forest.

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After making sure that no more Neji copies are coming after him, Naruto stopped and relaxed on one of the trees in the forest. He looked around scanning for possible techniques that Neji may have cast … none.

"Good, at least I can rest now" Naruto exhaled the longest exhale that he can exhale and lay down on the green grass. The blonde drained his chakra and energy by just running away from Neji. He sat up and combed his hair with his hand. He looked around and noticed a small black bug in the sky. Naruto squinted his eyes … "ahh!" He said pointing to the sky.

"That's a flea"

"And that flea is on a feather. And that feather's on that bird!"

"The bird's in the nest. And the nest on the leaf." Naruto took a closer look. "That's some big leaf."

"ahh!" Naruto pointed at the tree again "And the leaf is on the twig and the twig on the bough. And the bough on the branch!"

Naruto pointed at the lower part of the tree. "and the branch on the limb, and the limb on the tree" He raised his arms in pointing to the tree as if worshipping it. "And a tree in this hole, and the hole on the ground" He spun round and round.

"And the green grass is going all around, all around" he kept on spinning until he collapsed on the ground.

"ahhh, I guess I'll sleep" he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

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"Naruto-niichan"

"hmm … I'm sleepy"

"Naruto-niichan"

"hmmmmmm"

"Na-Naruto-kun?" Naruto sprang up from his sleep and quickly pulled out a kunai that he was hiding in his holster. Once he saw the figure in front of him, his form relaxed and sat down.

"If I didn't recognize you any sooner I would have ran my kunai through you Hinata" Naruto looked behind Hinata to see the other voice. It was Konohamaru. "Ohio, Naruto-niichan" the genin greeted him. Naruto flashed him his famous grin and motioned the two of them to sit down. "What are you two doing here?" he asked them.

"Mi-mission" Hinata stuttered, avoiding eye contact from the blonde. Naruto glanced at Konohamaru, who was secretly leaving the two alone.

"Oi!" he called him "Where do you think you're going, leaving a member in the middle of a mission?" he scolded. Konohamaru turned around and let out a loud hmph.

"I'm finishing the mission on my own" He told them. Naruto gave him an incredulous look "That sound dangerous, don't go doing missions on your own" he warned.

"There's nothing dangerous here in Konoha!" Konohamaru whined, "The most dangerous thing that happened today was when Neji-niichan almost got a hold of you" He pointed at Naruto; Hinata gave him a questioning look "Got a hold of you? Why?" she asked him.

Naruto froze; he can't possibly say it to Hinata that Neji is hunting for him just because he made Hinata faint the other day. "a-ah, No-nothing" he stuttered. The heiress shrugged, "Anyway, Naruto-kun I'm really sorry about what happened the other day. I behaved unlikely." she bowed her head apologetically.

"Ah? Okay." He told her, Hinata lifted hear head. "Really?" Naruto nodded.

"Also, I have a huge feeling that that's the reason why nii-san is planning to hunt down your soul and sell it to the devils." She bowed her head again, "I apologize on his behalf."

Naruto blinked, his heart slowly stopping. '_Hunt down my soul? Sell it to the devils? Hehe, you've got some pretty nice words there Hinata-chan' _He thought.

"Konohamaru-kun! Hinata-san! Oh Naruto-niichan you're here, hi!" Moegi yelled from the other tree "We caught the cat!" She pointed to Udon, the boy held up Tora. Somehow, that cat managed to escape the evil clutches of its overweight owner again. Tora struggled to free itself in Udon's arms but the boy tightened its grip on it so that the cat won't escape again for the second time around.

Hinata stood up and clapped her hands "Alright team! Good job. Let's go back now and maybe buy some leashes on the way." She then turned to face Naruto "You want to come?" she already had her hand to him. Naruto smiled "I guess, you already had your hand out for me. It'd be rude if I don't, right?" Hinata laughed a little. The three genin looked at each other and smiled, aware of the pleasant aura surrounding the chunin and their fellow genin before them.

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Neji just finished hammering the last of Tenten's roof when the brunette called him.

"Neji!" she yelled from inside her room. The boy sighed as he returned the tools to the toolbox that his teammate threw at him. He walked down from the roof, using his chakra to help him walk on the walls and went inside Tenten's room through her window. Once inside, Neji ducked a kunai that Tenten threw. He shot her a glare.

"What?" the brunette asked him. "That is _your_ kunai right?" She pointed at the weapon stuck on the wall.

"Fix it." She ordered him, Neji gave her a confused look. "Huh?"

"_Your_ kunai made a dent on my wall. An owner must take responsibility on his things." She stated bluntly. Neji turned his head to see the damage _his_kunai has caused. It wasn't a dent.

"That's a hole!" Neji exclaimed. He turned around to face Tenten and glared at her.

"I know what you're up to." Tenten smiled. "You're stopping me from catching Naruto!" he accused.

"Hehe." She laughed. "Got me. But first fix my damn wall!"

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Tsunade stared at the extra member of the team that came to her. "What are you doing here Naruto?" She asked him. Naruto shrugged, "I don't know either."

Tsunade sighed, "I apologize to you four." She told Hinata's team. "Missions aren't really coming in since last month. So we had no choice but to send shinobis on D and C Rank missions, that's the only way to keep money coming in."

After the overweight owner of Tora handed the payment for the mission, the team and Naruto were dismissed by Tsunade. The three genin teammates already ran off as soon as they left leaving the two alone … together.

"Ne, Hinata." The blonde called, the girl turned her head to look at him, "What is it, Naruto-kun?" she asked.

"About my soul getting sold to the devils…" he trailed of, just the thought of Neji hunting him down scared him. Hinata placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry." She told him, the blonde flashed a smile.

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"I'll just kill him before he gets to you." Naruto's smile broke.

"Eh?" he managed to say. Apparently, Hinata was always the goody girl with the nice language, so it was a surprise for him when he heard her.

"Nice to know that your vocabulary is … evolving" Naruto let out a nervous laugh. Should he thank the gods that she hasn't released her wrath on him yet? One demon kunoichi (Sakura) is enough; he didn't want Hinata to add up. The two continued to walk once they were out the building. They passed by the commercial district of the village where they saw Sasuke and Sakura having lunch, the two decided not to bother them since they're still on the road of becoming together. The thought of lunch made Naruto's stomach grumble.

"Ah, sorry Hinata-chan" he apologized, "I guess I'm just a bit hungry, that's all." The Hyuuga looked around for something to eat. They stopped at Ichiraku's a few minutes later. Naruto's stomach grumbled again.

"Ah, sorry again." Hinata giggled inwardly, "It's alright. It's only natural since you haven't eaten anything yet." Pushing all her courage to her hands, she grabbed Naruto and stepped inside. Naruto on the other hand refused to come inside.

"You're hungry right? I'll treat you ramen." she offered. As tempting as it was to Naruto's ears to hear the words 'treat', 'you', and 'ramen' all together in one sentence, the blonde's memories about Neji prevented him from entering his sanctuary.

"Oh." Hinata must have guessed why Naruto's reluctant to enter. Even so, she grabbed his other hand and pulled him inside with much force that he hit his head on the counter.

"Ahhh, It hurts." Naruto whined as he rubbed his head.

"Mister, two pork ramen please" Hinata ordered. Teuchi yelled the orders to Ayame and began working on the noodles. Ayame came out of the kitchen with two new bowls and placed them near the stove.

"Father, I have an idea." Ayame whispered. Teuchi, being a witness to what happened a few days before, already knew what Ayame's idea was. He threw the noodles into the pot and spun to look at Ayame.

"Ayame—"

"I won't do it again this time father. I'll just offer them something sweet and romantic. PLEASE" she pleaded. Teuchi reluctantly agreed, he left the kitchen to his daughter and went outside to deliver orders.

"Don't do anything." Teuchi warned one last time before disappearing. Ayame snickered.

"Yes father, I won't do anything … that bad."

After the noodles were cooked, Ayame served only one bowl to the two teenagers. They both gave her a look as if asking 'Why is there only one?'

"The other one isn't done yet." She answered. Ayame then went back to the kitchen and took out her secret weapon. Miso ramen.

"Naruto-kun, I know you Miso ramen is your least favorite ramen. Commence acting sequence." She laughed evilly.

Naruto and Hinata were both staring at the bowl of ramen when Hinata's stomach grumbled. Naruto smiled at her and pushed the ramen to her direction. "Eat it, I'll wait."

Hinata shook her head. "No it's all right. You said you were hungry."

"You go ahead first Hinata" the girl shook her head.

"I'm all right"

"No, no. You're a growing lady. You should eat first."

"I told you, I can wait."

"No, you should—"

"I said I'll wait." Hinata interjected, scaring Naruto.

"I said you'll wait"

"Oh my gosh!" Ayame cried, catching the attention of the two.

"Is there anything wrong Ayame-neechan?" Naruto asked out of worry. Ayame came out of the kitchen and shook her head.

"I don't know if you could classify this as a problem but …" she turned around, showing Naruto his meal. "I forgot you ordered pork ramen." She quickly gave the ramen to the other customer who just came in and ordered miso ramen.

"I'm sorry" she apologized. "I'll just make you another one." She promised, but Naruto was already hungry. His stomach was calling for some ramen.

"Naruto-kun, we can share." Hinata pushed the ramen to him. Naruto gulped, images of Hinata fainting and Neji flinging him to the nearest planet suddenly entered his mind.

"No Hinata. I can still wait." Naruto refused. He is not going to let it happen again. But too late, Hinata had already taken a portion of the meal and shoved it into his mouth. Before complaining about Hinata's sudden actions, Naruto let the ramen slide into his mouth. It tasted so good!

"There you go." Hinata dropped the chopstick and smile at him. "It's not too bad right?"

Naruto was about to answer her when he felt a familiar chakra come near them. The next thing he knew, he fell to the ground … unconscious.

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"Hinata-sama!" Neji called as he barged in the ramen stand. "Where is Naruto!"

Hinata pointed at the unconscious pile of orange at Neji's feet. "You're stepping on him." The brunette looked down at his feet and smirked. Instead of taking his foot off the orange, he pushed all his chakra into his foot and stepped on Naruto more.

"Neji-niisan. What are you doing?" The heiress asked. Hinata cocked her head to one side and stared at her cousin/brother. Neji eyes flickered past Hinata and eyed the bowl of ramen beside her. Hinata saw this and quickly shook her head.

"It's not like that Neji-niisan." She held her hands up defensively. Neji raised his brow, as if asking her 'Really? Should I believe you?' Hinata nodded.

"Yes! Now please, take off your foot, you're gonna leave a mark on his back." She reprimanded, kicking his foot away from the blonde.

"You're being uncharacteristically different. You don't usually kick people's foot."

"You don't usually step on people when they're unconscious."

"Touché" The two heard a groan below them, Naruto stirred a little before fully waking up. The blonde jolted up from the ground and sat back o his seat while glaring at Neji. Naruto felt his back throb, now what did that white-eyed destiny freak do to him?

"You're supposed to be at Tenten's fixing her roof." Naruto told him.

"You're supposed to be dead."

"Sorry for not being dead."

"Then let me have the honor of killing you." Hinata smiled awkwardly as she felt the tense aura around the ramen stand. The air was so deadly it's almost palpable.

"Neji-niisan" Hinata called making the brunette look at her, he raised a questioning brow at her.

"Please stop." She said. Neji shook his head.

"No, he made you faint the other time." Hinata chuckled softly. "Is that all? Then I promise you I won't faint this time" she promised.

"Hinata-chan…"

"And Naruto-kun, he wouldn't do anything stupid and idiotic that would make me faint." She added.

_Stupid and idiotic? __Wow, I almost thought you were Sakura-chan for a while there Hinata. _Naruto silently complained.

"Now. Please leave Neji-niisan." She pleaded. Neji shook his head and sat down on one of the chairs.

"I'll be joining your little lunch." He announced. Naruto felt his eye twitch.

"Hyuuga Neji." Hinata called, Neji turned to face his cousin. Now since when did she start calling him by that name?

"Did you just ignore the request of the future head of the Hyuuga Clan?" she asked him, Neji felt that his cousin was just using her title as heiress to make him leave. But what can he do? Now that she used her title, can he refuse?

Of course he can!

"No." he said.

"No?" Hinata repeated. "You do know that you're refusing the heiress of the clan." Both Naruto and Neji could feel the murderous intent in Hinata's voice. She would go as far as using her title just to make him leave.

"Yes. No."

"Well then," Hinata looked at him in the eye and smirked (yes, smirked) "We wouldn't like it if father finds out that you're secretly going out with Tenten-san behind his back, would we?" Is this a threat she's giving him? If so, Hinata succeeded in her so-called threat. Neji begrudgingly left the ramen stand and walked away, leaving the two ninjas alone.

There was an awkward silence between the two until Ayame decided to talk. "Now that was fun." She smiled, ignoring the groans the two teenagers were giving her. She laughed and placed a bowl off pork ramen on the counter, Naruto's eyes lit up as he wolfed down the bowl. Hinata smiled at him and began eating her bowl of ramen.

Eating with Naruto was fun, even with her cousin interrupting everything. Next time, when she has enough courage, maybe she'll ask him out. I mean that's how things work now, the girls ask the boys. And maybe by then, maybe Neji wouldn't disturb them anymore –they'd be legal in Hiashi's eyes by then.

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But for now, she'll just eat lunch with him. A date maybe? She'll consider this as her very first date with Naruto –even if the guy knows it or not. Because that's just the type of girl she is, she'll wait.


End file.
